Automated Packaging Systems, Inc.

Automated Packaging Systems, Inc. was founded by brothers, Hershey and Bernie Lerner in a one car-garage in Queens, New York in 1962. Soon after its founding, the company was moved to Bedford, Ohio and a mere five years after its conception relocated to Twinsburg. The headquarters and plant were located at 8400 Darrow Road for many years, comprised of ten acres and employing in excess of five hundred people.

The company famously developed the idea of “bags-on-a-roll.” They saw that polyethylene bags, a new product at the time, were difficult to open and load product into. They solved the problem by perforating one side of the bag and leaving the other side open. The bags were then rolled onto a cardboard cylinder. This innovation spread to supermarkets across the nation, saving many a shopper endless headaches.